Magic-Thunder Preview

By JOHN KOSIKPosted Dec 14 2013 6:18PM

The Thunder franchise enjoyed some great seasons in Seattle, with fans packing KeyArena season after season during the mid-1990s.

Now the team is generating the same excitement in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder are within reach of matching the franchise's best home start since its days as the SuperSonics.

The Thunder will look to improve to 12-0 on their home floor and extend their overall winning streak to six games when they host the Orlando Magic on Sunday.

Oklahoma City (18-4) remains one of only two teams that has yet to lose at home, joining league-leading Indiana (11-0).

One of the Thunder's home victories came against the three-loss Pacers, whom they beat 118-94 last Sunday, and they've also earned wins over a few of the stronger teams in the Western Conference - including Dallas, Denver, the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio.

A victory over struggling Orlando (7-16), which has lost seven of eight overall and is 2-10 on the road, would give Oklahoma City the franchise's best home start since the '93-94 Sonics opened 12-0.

"We started the season knowing what we wanted to do ... just continue to build trust in each other and just focus on each other and not worry about anything else but trying to make your teammates look good," coach Scott Brooks said. "It's early, but we've done a great job with that."

Oklahoma City is coming off its biggest offensive outburst and largest margin of victory this season Friday in a 122-97 home rout of the Los Angeles Lakers, who were playing their third game since Kobe Bryant returned to the lineup.

Despite his team scoring an average of 116.5 points over its last four home games, Durant still feels Oklahoma City has room for improvement.

"We can be a lot better," he said. "There are a lot of things we need to work on - transition defense, rebounding, passing. On offense we've got to flow a little better. But our chemistry is growing. That's the most important thing."

Serge Ibaka had his 11th double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Reggie Jackson also scored 19 to help the Thunder win their 13th in 14 games.

Oklahoma City has a good chance to keep the home streak going with its next three games against Orlando, Chicago and Toronto, but the Thunder will be tested in road matchups against the Spurs and Nuggets over the next week.

"We just want to play our best brand of basketball at the right time," Durant said.

The Magic snapped a six-game losing streak with a 92-83 win at Charlotte on Wednesday before returning home Friday and wasting a 14-point lead in a 109-100 loss to Cleveland.

Victor Oladipo matched a career high with 26 points, and Arron Afflalo and Jameer Nelson scored 17 apiece for Orlando, which started strong before closing the first half by missing 20 of its final 29 shots.

"We just can't give games up like that," Glen Davis told the team's official website. "It's just sad that we can't get that game back. As it is, it's back to the drawing board."

The Magic have dropped four in a row and six of their last eight overall against the Thunder. Orlando won its first game in Oklahoma City in 2008 - a 109-92 victory on Nov. 12 - but has lost its last four visits.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Durant has 28 and Thunder hold off Magic 101-98

By MURRAY EVANSPosted Dec 15 2013 11:18PM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) The Oklahoma City Thunder apparently can win ugly, too.

The Thunder blew most of a 16-point lead in the final six minutes Sunday night against the Orlando Magic but hung on for a 101-98 win, the 12th in the row to start the season at home for Oklahoma City.

The Thunder are the first team in the NBA to open the season with 12 straight home wins since the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008, according to STATS. The franchise last started 12-0 at home to open the 1993-94 season, when the team was located in Seattle.

Kevin Durant had 28 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and Russell Westbrook added 20 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for Oklahoma City, which has won six straight overall and 14 of its last 15. The Thunder have beaten the Magic in five straight meetings.

But Orlando made it interesting, taking advantage of miscues and missed shots by the Thunder to close the game on an 18-5 run. The Magic's Glen Davis missed a potential tying 3-point attempt in the final seconds and Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka blocked a follow by Nikola Vucevic.

"I thought our defense was just up and down throughout the night and then we didn't do a great job of executing down the stretch," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "Those are things that we have to continue to work on and do a much better job with that. I think we have been doing a great job of that up until tonight."

The Thunder's 12-game home winning streak matches their second-longest since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City. The Thunder won 14 in a row at Chesapeake Energy Arena from January-March 2012.

Arron Afflalo scored 25 points and Vucevic had 13 points and 16 rebounds for his 11th double-double this season for Orlando. The Magic, losers in 11 of their 13 road games this season, proved an unlikely threat to Oklahoma City's home dominance.

"Just good defense by (the Thunder) on our last possession and give them credit for that," Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn said. "Overall, our guys really believed from beginning to end that we were going to win that game and that's a good start for us."

Durant denied that the Thunder were complacent against Orlando.

"They kept fighting to the end," he said. "We got some tough breaks, but we were glad we fought it out and got a win. They made a couple of runs but we were able to take the punch and keep pushing."

A putback by Tobias Harris capped a 9-0 run by Orlando that tied the game at 45-45 with 3:38 left in the first half. After a timeout, Durant scored nine points in an 11-1 spurt by Oklahoma City and the Thunder led 56-49 at halftime.

Orlando was within 67-62 after a 3-pointer by Jameer Nelson with 6:21 left in the third quarter, but Thabo Sefolosha had a follow dunk and a driving layup during a 16-7 run near the end of the quarter. Oklahoma City led 96-80 after a layup by Westbrook with 6:11 left.

The Magic scored eight straight points and cut the margin to 96-88 on a basket by Victor Oladipo with 3:58 left. Durant answered by feeding Westbrook for a layup, then grabbed a rebound off a miss by Nelson and drove the length of the court for a layup with 3:10 left.

That proved to be the Thunder's final basket, as they missed their final five shots and turned the ball over twice after that. Oklahoma City finished with 13 turnovers.

Nelson hit a 3-pointer - with Westbrook defending - with 31.9 seconds left to pull Orlando within 100-96 with 31.9 seconds to go. Westbrook turned the ball over moments later, leading to a basket by Maurice Harkless with 22.3 seconds left.

Durant made 1 of 2 free throws with 13 seconds remaining to extend the Thunder's lead to 101-98. Davis missed a 3-point attempt and Vucevic tried to tip the ball in. Vucevic initially was awarded a basket on a goaltending call against Ibaka with 1.3 seconds left. After a video review, officials overturned their call and ruled there should be a jump ball at center court between Ibaka and Vucevic.

The tip went to Harris, but his 3-point attempt came after the buzzer.

"We had our chance to take it to overtime," Afflalo said. "It would have been great momentum for us. . It just didn't happen."

NOTES: The Pacers can improve to 12-0 at home when they host Detroit on Monday night. ... Sefolosha returned to the starting lineup after missing three games due to a sprained knee. He finished with six points in 23:01. . Oklahoma City recorded its 100th straight sellout at Chesapeake Energy Arena, which seats 18,203. . Davis left the game holding his left shoulder with 2:06 left but returned in the final seconds.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Thunder 101, Magic 98

THE FACT: The Thunder won their 12th straight game at home to start a season. The team last won 12 straight to begin a season in 1993-94 when the franchise was still in Seattle.

THE LEAD: The Oklahoma City Thunder let a 16-point fourth quarter lead dwindle all the way to just two points in the closing seconds but a Kevin Durant free throw and a Serge Ibaka block preserved a 101-98 win over the Orlando Magic.

Durant led all scorers with 28 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Russell Westbrook added a double-double with 20 points and 12 boards. Jeremy Lamb came off the bench to score 16 on 7-for-10 shooting and Reggie Jackson added 10.

All five Magic starters scored in double figures. Arron Afflalo led Orlando with 25 points, but it took him 20 shots to get there. Rookie Victor Oladipo pumped in 15 and Nikola Vucevic cranked out another double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

The Magic were dominated inside, with the Thunder outscoring them 50-30 in the paint and running the fast break to near perfection, getting 27 points on 11-for-14 shooting.

QUOTABLE: "Our defense was up and down all night and we didn't do a good job executing down the stretch. Tonight we had three or four spurts where we locked down (on defense). The rest of the time we were just hoping they'd miss."-- Thunder coach Scott Brooks

THE STAT: In the critical fourth quarter, Orlando outscored OKC 27-18 and forced the Thunder into six turnovers. Durant and Westbrook combined to score seven points on 3-for-9 shooting. But in the last 23 seconds the Thunder forced the Magic to miss both their shots.

TURNING POINT: The Thunder led by 16 early in the fourth quarter and by 10 with just under two minutes to play. That's when things took a big turn. The Thunder missed four straight shots and the Magic made three straight. With the game on the line, Ibaka blocked a Vucevic shot at the rim with 1.3 seconds left to end the Magic comeback.

QUOTABLE II: "Just good defense by the Thunder on our last possession so give them credit for that. Overall our guys really believed from the beginning to the end that we were going to win that game and that's a good start for us."-- Magic coach Jacque Vaughn

HOT: During a nine-minute stretch in the first half, Lamb was 5-for-7 (12 points). ... Vucevic was 5-for-6 (10 points) and 10 rebounds in the first half. ... OKC had 17 fast-break points on 7-for-9 shooting in the first 24 minutes. ... During an 18-minute stretch in the second and third quarters Durant was 9-for-9 (22 points). ... Afflalo was 5-for-8 (17 points) in the second half.

NOT: The Magic had four turnovers in the first five minutes, three of them by Oladipo. ... In the first 18 minutes of the game Durant was 1-for-5 (three points). ... Westbrook was 4-for-12 in the first half. ... Ibaka was in foul trouble in the first half, played just 5:22 and finished the half with two points, no rebounds and three fouls. ... Nelson was 1-for-6 in the second half.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The 125th consecutive sellout inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. ... A Thunder fan sitting in courtside seats pulled his girlfriend onto the court at halftime and proposed. She said yes as security escorted the couple off the floor and up the tunnel. They were allowed to return to their seats a short while later.

GOOD MOVE: In the waning seconds with the Magic down by four, Westbrook was double-teamed and hounded into a turnover. Jameer Nelson grabbed the ball and passed to a wide-open Mo Harkless for a slam to close the gap to two points.

BAD MOVE: Before the game Vaughn told reporters Westbrook's so fast "I have to slow down the tape just to see what he's doing." That apparently didn't help much. On Orlando's first possession, Westbrook darted in front of Nelson and intercepted a soft toss from Afflalo, raced down court and hammered home a tomahawk slam for the game's first points.

BAD MOVE TOO: The Thunder turned the ball over on consecutive possessions in the third quarter. Kendrick Perkins started to bring the ball up the court and had it knocked away by Oladipo. The Magic missed their next shot, Durant grabbed the rebound but threw a bad pass toward Westbrook which was intercepted by Nelson, who then hit a 3

ROOKIE WATCH: Orlando's Oladipo had 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting, four reounds and two assists. He also had five turnovers. ... Thunder backup center Steven Adams played 20 minutes, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds.

NOTABLE: The Thunder bench, averaging 33 points per game this season, had 37 Sunday. Orlando's bench players scored 21. OKC is now 14-2 when its bench outscores the opponent's.